What with a new school year starting and many people heading back to work after the holidays there is an issue that raises its head time and time again. Sharing a communal working space or student accommodation can be stressful at the best of times but when it comes to food I think it can get quite territorial…and apparently quite rightly so!

Data Label have researched and found that almost a third of people have had food stolen from the office workplace or communal student living areas. There is a write up about the statistics on the Start Your Business Mag website, pop over to read these shocking revelations!

The info-graph that prompted this research into the problems with communal fridges and shared space was The Art of Passive Aggressive Notes displayed below (I’m sure a lot of us can agree with a few points and have shared notes of this kind on many ocassions!) lol

Speaking about the results, Phillip Carlyn of Data Label, said:

“We were surprised to see that people think they can get away with taking other people’s food from a communal fridge without them noticing. You’ll find that a lot of a tension will arise from the situation making living or working together an uncomfortable experience – some people will resort to keeping their food under lock and key whereas others will confront the guilty party, neither an ideal situation!

“Perhaps for some people, it’s purely an accident. However we can recommend helping to avoid this issue entirely by labelling up your food as well as other belongings, whether in an office environment or student accommodation, so that you have more of a chance of keeping hold of your own stuff.”